AuthorTopic: Tennessee (Read 61992 times)

Tennessee has accumulated a lot of highly rated talent on the OL and DL in their last 2 recruiting classes. Our game with them is going to heavily depend on whether that line of scrimmage talent has developed quickly for them.

If that line of scrimmage talent develops quickly for them, they actually will have a chance to win the SEC East in 2015. Even if that line of scrimmage development doesn't occur quickly in 2015, they are going to be tough in 2016.

Recruiting classes, depth charts, sell outs, TN with a better overall record since Jones has been there.

I'm not saying TN is that much better off than AR as far as the rebuilding goes. I think both teams are on a very similar trajectory. Just don't think AR is ahead of them.

I disagree with Depth Charts. UT has no depth at OL. They did sign some highly regarded players that will probably start this year but I doubt they make huge impact as most OL need atleast a year to meet there potential. In addition they only have 1 QB that will not be a true Freshman next year. In an offense with a QB that runs the ball and Butch has had a history of QB's getting hurt.

When talking about UT's recruiting classes you have to take into account they have already lost 5 players from last years class that were considered 4 stars by atleast one of the 4 major recruiting services.

UT had a better record last year but had to pull one out of there butt against South Carolina and squeak one out at Vandy. IMO UT showed very little growth last year. If James Franklin was still at Vandy UT doesn't go bowing for the 2nd straight year (under Butch) IMO.

UT's positives? They played better with Dobbs, Hurd the RB was better with Dobbs at QB, WR that are highly regarded (though the producing hasn't match it yet) Dline has some really good young players. LBs played ok without AJ Johnson the last half of the year and the Secondary had improved overall team speed the was lacking in the Dooley Era

If we turn this into a very physical game then Tenn is in a world of hurt. On the other hand if Tenn turns it into a helter skelter game then we will have problems. Personally I don't think Rob Smith will allow Tenn to do that.

passinghog

I question their offensive line play. They've played a lot of young guys there, I was looking at their o-line recruiting over the last 3 signing classes and they haven't signed amazing size and talent there, at least not what you would think with their recruiting class rankings. I can see Dobbs being a lot like Hundley at UCLA; athletic, but bad line play hindering their development. They gave up 43 sacks last season; that's a lot. They gave up 4.3 ypc while only averaging 3.6 ypc on offense. How good can their oline be under Butch? I don't know if it'll ever be top half SEC good enough. I think they're more than a season away.

I question their offensive line play. They've played a lot of young guys there, I was looking at their o-line recruiting over the last 3 signing classes and they haven't signed amazing size and talent there, at least not what you would think with their recruiting class rankings. I can see Dobbs being a lot like Hundley at UCLA; athletic, but bad line play hindering their development. They gave up 43 sacks last season; that's a lot. They gave up 4.3 ypc while only averaging 3.6 ypc on offense. How good can their oline be under Butch? I don't know if it'll ever be top half SEC good enough. I think they're more than a season away.

This could be their Achilles heel. Their O-Line was abhorrent last year so it all depends on whether their returning guys progress and their new guys are good enough to contribute this year. They have a stud RB, several stud WRs and a very salty defense.

I will be there; just hope I have a better time than the last time I went to a game there when we had the much better team but our coach wore a pinwheel hat.

Butch has some really impressive skill players. Those WR's are some athletic specimens. There's an interesting contrast between the way bielema and buthc are building. Bielema is building from the lines out, Butch is just now getting around to realizing the SEc is won and lost at the line of scrimmage. It'll be interesting to see which philosophy pays dividends when they match up.

If Arkansas was in the East last year, they likely would have finished no worse than third in the division. Vandy, UK, SC and Florida were not good. If UT had been in the West, someone tell me who they would have beaten.

UT is about where Arkansas was a year ago. Some young talent, but a front-loaded schedule will make it hard for the improvement to show any results. The Vols play OU, UF, Arkansas, Georgia and Bama in a six game stretch. Brutal. If they can somehow come out of that with a winning record, they have a chance for a really good season. If the come out at 3-4, they're on pace for another 7-5 type year. If they come out at 2-5, things could get shaky. They have OU, Arkansas and UF at home, they need to win at least two of those.

Butch has some really impressive skill players. Those WR's are some athletic specimens. There's an interesting contrast between the way bielema and buthc are building. Bielema is building from the lines out, Butch is just now getting around to realizing the SEc is won and lost at the line of scrimmage. It'll be interesting to see which philosophy pays dividends when they match up.

If Arkansas was in the East last year, they likely would have finished no worse than third in the division. Vandy, UK, SC and Florida were not good. If UT had been in the West, someone tell me who they would have beaten.

UT is about where Arkansas was a year ago. Some young talent, but a front-loaded schedule will make it hard for the improvement to show any results. The Vols play OU, UF, Arkansas, Georgia and Bama in a six game stretch. Brutal. If they can somehow come out of that with a winning record, they have a chance for a really good season. If the come out at 3-4, they're on pace for another 7-5 type year. If they come out at 2-5, things could get shaky. They have OU, Arkansas and UF at home, they need to win at least two of those.

Spot on.

Tennessee always gets to end their season with Vandy and Kentucky (or at least those are 2 of the last 3 they play every year). What I'd give to have those two to end the season on an up note every year..

Tennessee was 9th in the conference is run defense for conference games only, gave up over 180 a game. Mizzou, SC and Ole Miss averaged over 200 yards on the ground vs the Vols, and scored 7 rushing TD's. Arkansas run game wasn't great in conference games, but it matched up well with those schools. The matchup between Arkansas' O-line and UT's D-line favors the Hogs.

More interesting is how Arkansas' reloading D-line matches up with UT's offensive front.

This could be their Achilles heel. Their O-Line was abhorrent last year so it all depends on whether their returning guys progress and their new guys are good enough to contribute this year. They have a stud RB, several stud WRs and a very salty defense.

I will be there; just hope I have a better time than the last time I went to a game there when we had the much better team but our coach wore a pinwheel hat.

Blair was a 4-star, midterm-eligible juco recruit but disappointed enough to be redshirted on a team that lacked talent. Vols believe he might have improved enough to start, but nothing is set + they have true freshmen in the fallback plans.

Nobody on this Oline is remotely dominating. They are striving for basically competent.

On the other hand, with Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara, Tennessee might be better in the backfield than Arkansas is.

Upon closer inspection, it would appear our schedule wasn't that much tougher than theirs. We each played Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, and Ole Miss. We played @Auburn, but they had a comparable game @Oklahoma. We each played an FCS opponent, although theirs was actually much better. Ours was maybe the worst in all of FCS, theirs finished #8. They got @South Carolina and we played Texas A&M at a neutral site. Then I would say you could compare Texas Tech and Kentucky. The rest are just splitting hairs between awful teams and mid-majors.

That's some solid revisionism there. Here's what you forgot:

MSU >> VandyLSU >> FloridaUT had Missouri at homeAuburn > Chokelahoma - If you think Auburn was as bad as Oklahoma last year, then I don't really know how to respect any opinion you have.

I DID indeed forget about MSU and LSU, although I'm hardly revising anything. Auburn and Oklahoma both began the season in the top ten, and both fell to 8-5 and unranked by the end. And Tennessee played them away just like we played Auburn away. How are they not comparable teams? I also didn't forget Tennessee had Missouri at home, I say it balanced out because they had to play @Georgia while we got Georgia at home.

It's not a big deal, I'm just saying if you really compare the schedules, ours was tougher, but I think a lot of people believe ours was far tougher just because everyone here parrots it.

I DID indeed forget about MSU and LSU, although I'm hardly revising anything. Auburn and Oklahoma both began the season in the top ten, and both fell to 8-5 and unranked by the end. And Tennessee played them away just like we played Auburn away. How are they not comparable teams? I also didn't forget Tennessee had Missouri at home, I say it balanced out because they had to play @Georgia while we got Georgia at home.

It's not a big deal, I'm just saying if you really compare the schedules, ours was tougher, but I think a lot of people believe ours was far tougher just because everyone here parrots it.

Swap the schedules and Arkansas wins more than six, and UT doesn't go bowling.

I see nothing that Tennessee has done to make me feel like they are better than us. Seems to me like they gave up many many big plays this year. Take Mizzou for example...they gave up big plays that probably cost them the game. They are losing quite a bit on the defensive line...right?? I think we own them up front and I could see a game much like Texas Tech this year. We may not have to throw a forward pass.

I DID indeed forget about MSU and LSU, although I'm hardly revising anything. Auburn and Oklahoma both began the season in the top ten, and both fell to 8-5 and unranked by the end. And Tennessee played them away just like we played Auburn away. How are they not comparable teams? I also didn't forget Tennessee had Missouri at home, I say it balanced out because they had to play @Georgia while we got Georgia at home.

It's not a big deal, I'm just saying if you really compare the schedules, ours was tougher, but I think a lot of people believe ours was far tougher just because everyone here parrots it.

Vandy and UK are automatic wins. We had no automatic conference wins.

South Carolina was nowhere near as good as A&M.

Florida was a dumpster fire. Not an automatic win, but pretty close.

Georgia was much better than Mizzou, so a home loss to UGA is better than a home loss to MIZ. And if that's not enough, we played MIZ closer on the road with a hurt QB than UT did at home and healthy.

Oklahoma lost to two good Big12 teams and two bad Big12 teams and got rofl-spanked in their bowl. They were preseason ranked because of the 2013 sugar bowl.Auburn lost to four good SEC teams and lost a close bowl game. Wisconsin was #18, Clemson was #17 so they are comparable. And if you watched the two, Auburn passes the eye test and OU failed it miserably.

The point is - UT had a much easier schedule. It's SEC, so it's still hard. But they had some cushion. We had zero cushion, Zero.

Anybody that doesn't think this will be a tough game, or that Tennessee will be a talented football team next fall, is in for a rude awakening. I am not saying we lose that game, but I expect a game similar to the A&M and Alabama games this year - going down to the last play of the game.

Anybody that doesn't think this will be a tough game, or that Tennessee will be a talented football team next fall, is in for a rude awakening. I am not saying we lose that game, but I expect a game similar to the A&M and Alabama games this year - going down to the last play of the game.

If we truly go into Tennessee and road grade them to the point the game won't be close like Texas Tech last year I'll be convinced this will be a 10+ win season. Without doubt the week leading up to the game this will be the expectation. Extremely skeptical of that happening though.

Tennessee has some good receivers, a stud at RB, and a dynamic runner at QB. And they're playing the game in a stadium we've never won in since joining the conference. Will be a tough, hard fought game

Tennessee has some good receivers, a stud at RB, and a dynamic runner at QB. And they're playing the game in a stadium we've never won in since joining the conference. Will be a tough, hard fought game

Pretty sure we beat them at Neyland our first year in the conference on Todd Wright's last second FG.

Butch was HC at Central Michigan, moved on to Cincy and on to TN. Enos replaced Butch Central Michigan; changed their offensive philosophy; and recruited different types of players. Butch took some Central commits to cincy with him. I look for Enos and Butch to be fired up for this game. Enos should have some insight into what to expect. Should be a hard fought game.

This upcoming season is the year Tennessee (according to fan's) need to contend in the SEC East as the Vols haven't finished above .500 (twice in 8 season' s) or with more than 7 wins since 2007.

Another 6 win season would bring monumental disappointment to a very hungry fanbase. They have 8 Home games in Neyland.

Yeah, a 6 win season would not be good for Butch. Callers on the sports station in Knoxville are expecting 8 or more wins. The Vols are actually playing 7 games at Neyland, the Bowling Green game is in Nashville.

Tenn is finesse with a lot of skill on their team and some physicality. Arkansas is a team with a lot of physicality (with another physical jump forward this season) and with little finesse and skill especially at receiver. (with hope to take a step forward there too). So on the surface going into the Spring I would think Ark is ahead of the game unless Tenn turns into Baylor with their passing game.